Back to normal

It's amazing having my real computer again - I went and picked it up a couple hours ago, and it feels like coming home! I live a good deal of my life via email and reading things on the internet: that little tablet was a good stopgap, but still.... In particular the Columbia webmail is hopeless, very happy to be using Thunderbird again.

New Kindle Paperwhite arrived yesterday, and I have just ordered a replacement watch (in the meantime I am wearing my other watch, a rather nice diving one - with a bezel! - that Wendy gave me after I got my scuba certification when she came to visit for Breakfast Near Tiffany's).

Saw an odd little play last night with G., Bull at 59E59. It is more of a scenario than a fully fledged play, and I thought only the sole female character had much depth - it's watchable but feels a bit purposeless. (I wasn't that keen on its predecessor Cock either.) Delicious dinner afterwards here - I had beef carpaccio (in my opinion this is the perfect dish - the combination of arugola, parmesan and raw beef is just ridiculously good), an amazing very simple branzino with lightly sauteed vegetables and a tiramisu I ordered after dimly recalling that we had eaten here once before and I had ordered what turned out to be the best tiramisu I have ever tasted. And it still is.

Self-promotional

So thoroughly knackered and in need of bed that I will not write at length about light reading or anything else, except to say that the Book Culture event last night was absolutely lovely (a dream evening, and it was particularly nice to see so many former students!); I am writing now from a hotel in Cleveland for my eighteenth-century studies conference, Cleveland is extremely nice (we had a great dinner here - my dessert was the best key lime pie EVER!).

But the main news is that I am doing a Reddit IAMA chat tomorrow, Thursday, at noon - come and ask me a question if you have an idle moment!

On a darker note, this is truly dispiriting. (Via Jonathan L.)